“If you don’t know when to use it, then don’t.”
-Elitist Internet Forum Asshole
That tired, old advice always made me wonder how anyone ever learned to use compression in the first place? I never liked hearing people say it, but really what they were trying to say is compression isn’t what will make or break your mix.
We want to begin to think of compression as more like the icing on a 5 layer cake. The 5 layers are great by themselves but maybe we want some icing to top it off.
There are 4 perspectives I’ve used to understand what compression really is and how to use it:
Compression is just an automatic volume fader. This is literally what a compressor should mean to you. It’s not compression, it’s an automatic volume fader.
Anything a compressor can do, volume automation can do.
Compressors are designed to make loud sounds quieter
A compressor is just a glorified volume fader (I really want to drive that one home)